Quarterly Newsletter

Tax News

Two new Acts came into force on 1 April 2017. The Taxation (Business Tax, Exchange of Information and Remedial Matters) Act, and the Taxation (Annual Rates for 2016-2017, Closely Held Companies and Remedial Matters) Act. Key aspects of these Acts include changes to provisional tax, use of money interest and simplified reporting for businesses. There are also changes to tighten New Zealand's disclosure requirements for foreign trusts.

AIM

A new method of calculating provisional tax comes into play from 1 April 2018. It is the accounting income method (AIM). AIM allows you to use your accounting software to calculate and pay your provisional tax if your annual gross income is under $5million. Although this method will not suit all businesses it could work well for new businesses as they grow or seasonal businesses as the provisional instalment payable is linked to the business income cycle.

Changes to UOMI

Other business-friendly measures include reducing or removing UOMI for the vast majority of business taxpayers. In the past UOMI has been seen as unfair, because even if a business paid the correct amount of provisional tax during the year it could still incur the interest. As of April 1 this year, this charge is considerably reduced through the extension of the safe harbour rules.

Make the most of apps to fire up your business

Are you using all your devices to their best advantage? Ideally they should operate like your 'office away from the office.' For example, if you're on the road and need to answer an inventory question or check how often a customer orders, you can use your notebook or phone to have the information at your fingertips.

The number of mobile apps designed to save you time and money is mind boggling. Here are a handful we like – but we strongly recommend you do your own research and find the ones that work best for you.

Provisional tax and you

As mentioned earlier, further changes to provisional tax will be coming next year, starting 1 April 2018. For provisional taxpayers who pay using the standard method, there are two changes to the way IRD will charge UOMI from the 2018 tax year.

The first change applies to smaller taxpayers (including companies and trusts) using what's called the 'safe harbour'.

The information contained in this newsletter is of a general nature and should be used as a guide only.
A senior representative of Ean Brown Partners Ltd should be consulted for specific advice before any action is taken.